41 comments on “Indulge me for a moment…”

Hmm.. i wonder what brought about this question from you. are you going thru some self analyzing at the moment?

Anyway, i think you've got more guts that most other people. i appreciate the way you think and analyze things. it seems like you're a nice person, but then again that's besides the point.

i think that you're either motivated by pride or ambition. i also get the impression that you're getting impatient. it seems that you're probably going to be pretty successful at the least, once you figure out your own formula to success.

I've been subscribed to your blog for a long time, since about 2006 I'd say. I don't read most of your posts anymore as I have a lot of things to read in Google Reader and not many of your posts jump out now.. but you don't post often enough to annoy me so I stay subscribed. Sometimes you post something I find interesting.

I think you are quite transparent and direct which I like. You don't seem to pull any bullshit or act bigger than you are.

That said, you do strike me as quite young and naive on some issues but this is a natural part on my account of being older, ha ha.. so that's more a negative to me rather than you!!

Anon,Try not to analyze this too much. It came up in several conversations with friends that I seem different on the blog as opposed to real life. Just seeing what response come.

Peter,You're right, unfortunately I don't post as much anymore. A lot of stuff I simply can't post about anymore for business reasons. I'd love to say, "I'm going to start posting 4 times a week" but it doesn't exactly work like that. As for being young and naive….you may be right :-)

Linda,Love your blog too (which I'm frequently featured on)!It's funny how much I actually write for this blog and keep as drafts vs. actually post. Didn't we have some blogging pact at some point??

I have a lot of respect for you as a person and the things you have done and shared with us. When I was of your age (I am 28 now), I didn't do anything what you have done instead I only wasted my time. What you made me realize is that one can learn and have fun at the same time. [BTW, I started reading your blog because you are a 'desi' dude. But I stuck around because you were really interesting not just because you are desi.]

I also appreciate that you have been very honest with your blog readers and shared everything which one could share. Keep going!

Hi. I've been following your blog for more than a year now and I love it. I'm an ecommerce manager so I love reading about your ebusiness ventures. I've enjoyed reading about your online store and the changes its been through. Its actually encouraged me to start my online business. Knowing that you started your business in high school (I think) motivated me to get moving before it was too late. You're someone I would love to hang out with and just pick your brain. About your blog, I would love to see more guides, recommendations or articles on ecommerce. Your recent posts were about the bum project and backflips which were cool but I'd like to read more about your business and its daily challenges. Just my 2 cents. Thanks,MauricioLos Angeles

Do you remind me of anyone? Well…. yes –those that are open-minded enough to explore and indulge their senses and their curiosity without employing pre-disposed judgment. Those that have the cajones to follow through on thoughts and ideas that don't always make logical sense but that are intriguing, nonetheless. Those who can take the outcome of a situation and delight and learn from the experience of it rather than focusing solely on the success/failure aspect of it.

Will you succeed? It all comes down to passion, commitment and enthusiasm, but keep in mind that the definition of "success" is very fluid and it can change over time.

Are you my favorite read? Uhhh… Actually, I can't even remember how I stumbled upon your blog. Probably via a google search for something. But I was intrigued enough to read through your archives which inspired me enough to add you to my "favorites" which leads me to check back with you on a regular basis for your latest experiment/adventure/insight.

I turned 26 recently and found your blog after searching for "turning 26" or something like that in Google. After finding it I read everything within the next few days. I really like your ambition and creativity but mostly your honesty. You are very transparent about your goals and how you are achieving or not achieving them. I think this helps you. It also makes for some fascinating and motivational reading. I am not trying to kiss ass but I have to say you remind me of Ben Franklin. Have you read his autobiography? His tone and way of thinking is like yours. Anyway thanks for keeping up with this blog for so long. It helps me get off my ass. And yes I think you will be successful. You already are in many ways.

Ramta,Glad to inspire someone else. I'm slowly starting to see the most compliments I get are on things that almost everyone thinks is a bad idea at first (except the people I aspire to emulate, these people generally think it's wacky, but still a great idea).

Anon,Posting more….I actually write a lot of drafts, but never publish them. Perhaps I'll just start hitting the "publish" rather than "save" button more often.

NevBlog,I agree!

Lets Go,Hello fellow ecommerce manager! I sincerely wish I could post more about House Of Rave since I love writing about it. I've refrained quite a lot to reveal less to competitors and avoid copycats. There is a DIRECT correlation between how much I write about my business and how many people immediately try to emulate it. Best of luck on your own business…glad I had a hand in the inspiration to get it started. that means a lot!

Anon,WOW…Ben Franklin is one of my idols…definitely a compliment to be compared to him!Thanks for the very kind words :-)

James,Glad you view it that way. I do have a wonderful life I love, so that's pretty rich I'd say. As for money, accumulating much of it affords people to be weird and not have to conform much to their dislike, gives you a certain level of power and can give your life more options. I don't care to think much about spending the money so much as just keeping big stacks of it somewhere.

I started reading your blog via Linda's link, more so your frequent 'appearance' on her blog that got me interested to click on the link.

I think you'll b a fantastic person to hang out with, someone who constantly aims to improve oneself and in the process of doing so, motivates the people around you to want to better themselves too.

I think you push yourself rather hard at times to achieve the results that you want… which can be both a good and bad thing. I know it's hard to draw that balancing line.

You're a success in your own way with every goal that you've achieved. Compared to every other person of your age group… you've done well and will continue to do so if you still maintain the same sort of mentality in everything that you put your mind to.

I have been in the corporate finance world for 15 years and after discovering your blog you have inspired me. I have now started my own blog and am looking to try something in ecommerce. I would love to pick your brain sometime.

I've never felt a reason to comment before until now. So here it goes! Enjoy. :D

I found your blog by a link from another site to your water experiment. A lucrative endeavor? Hardly. But a creative experiment of the entrepreneurial sort nonetheless. A further lurking through your archives and I was hooked. I have hundreds of bookmarks and I haven't read everything but you're up there on my list of favorites peep in on.

You exhibit curiosity, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit; all qualities I prize in individuals. Most especially creativity, the most interesting quality anyone can possess!

Quick tangent: ever taken an IQ test before? It was probably a convergence test where the correct answer is deduced by eliminating the other answers. But have you ever taken a divergence test? This most closely resembles a test of creativity. A sample question would be to brainstorm uses for a brick and uses for a blanket. Many people of genius level IQ's have difficulty with this task and can only come up with a few uses for each. To be successful with this sort of test has numerous implications, the one which most readily comes to mind is entrepreneurial skill sets. I feel you would come up with dozens of uses for each!

I know you'll be successful. Even more so than you are already.

I mostly lurk through your blog for inspiration. I could benefit from saving yen. You remind me of my father when it comes to saving money. He's a great guy but it's certainly nice to see this in someone more my age. Also I am starting on online business now. Drop shipping isn't my form of monetization by the way, so no competition here!

I wouldn't doubt that you would appear differently in real life than you would here on your blog. For starters your blog focuses on some topics that just aren't polite to discuss in conversation. So perhaps you seem more serious here than you are in real life? Just my feeling. ;)

I will be honest. I used to love your blog. I found many interesting thoughts and ideas. But truthfully I feel for the last few months your content has gotten pretty thin. The homeless experiment was very interesting, but nothing to do with your blog.

You titled your blog "Tracking the road to financial success from the age of 22." I have not seen anything to support this title the last few months. It has almost become "the adventures of neville."

I understand that you think you can't talk about you business ventures, but you don't even really talk about house of rave anymore.

Ultimatly I like you and your blog. But it is not a business/finance blog anymore. At least those are my thoughts.

I am following your blog since 2006 and from that time I regularly read it.I am little older than you and really wanted to do things which you are doing.

The really like your "Just do it" experimentsOften when there is not much happening in my life I visit to take some clue from you blog. that helps me to take some action on "What Next for me"I think you are successful because are happy with what you are doing.

Most of people know that you are successful and would like to see how you could take this to next level.

I initially started reading your blog after searching for ways to make money with no money (as a young teen this is sooo appealing) but have since followed each and every post. I like the way you grab life by the balls and shake it up just to see what happens.

In my opinion you come across as a guy who really thinks through what he has to say, a concientious guy who isnt afraid to take a calculated risk especially for big rewards. You seem the kinda guy i would like to hang out with sorta 3 or 4 times a month so i could pick your brains about different things and have intelectual conversations with.

I like your honesty and to the point blogging as well as experoiments such as the water and homeless experiments. i think this gives ordinary people an insight into what life could be like had we all been dealt a different hand in life.

You don't really remind me of anyone in particular but this i dont think is a bad thing. The fact that you have your own individual style and personality in your blog is one of the things that makes you my only read blog.

Hope this has helped in your personal analysis but please dont change on the back of all these posts, you are who you are for a reason, dont let what others think of you affect you too much, whats most important is what you think of yourself.

Sorry for the humungous post but keep up the good work.

All the best in whatever you choose to do but definitely keep us all entertained so keep blogging!

I enjoy your context and perspective, though I initially became interested because of your focus on your financial situation. It was an interesting angle to follow. You're much less specific with finances of late.

When I first entered via your Bottled Water experiment it just captivated me right from the first minute. The fact that you were using your real name, showing pics of yourself and your accounts balance made me think… "this blog is so cool, totally different, this dude is crazy".

I'm an enterpreneur too so I see the world with the same optics. I would say you are actually a "doer", and reading the experiments and experiences you share is very encouraging.

One last thing I wanted to say… you usually post when you have something cool to share. That's good. I prefer quality posts than daily posts.

Keep up the good work!! And keep posting experiments, experiences, and covert ways to get into events and take pictures with CEOs and celebrities :)

Hi–I'm an occasional reader. I think I read about you in Business Week. I'm an academic type with interests in social/economic policy and on a personal level, personal finance–not to become wealthy but just secure.

You seem bright, funny, brash (i.e., full of fresh raw vitality), honest, curious, confident, outgoing and brave. I admire your willingness to put yourself out there and your ongoing quest for self improvement. I would not say you remind me of anyone other than yourself, which I think is a good thing. You don't rub me the wrong way–I like strong personalities; but I'm guessing that to some people you could come off as arrogant. Be mindful of this where it could be harmful to you–otherwise, screw them. I think your humor and honesty probably wins over most people.

I can see the Ben Franklin comparison, but my sense is that he was a bit more oriented toward learning for learning's sake where I see you as motivated primarily to become wealthy, at least right now. Once you have achieved that goal, you will probably want to do something bigger. I'd urge you to think, as you get older, about how you can use your talents to improve the world in some way–not just be remembered, but really be able to look at the world and see how you have benefited it (like Omidyar, Soros, Yunus).

I think I would like you personally, but we don't have much in common (I'm a 37 year old married woman with a young child). So, I'm not sure if we'd really want to hang out, though we could probably have some interesting conversations.

I think you already are a success and, as long as you keep your attitude of continual self-improvement, you will continue to be a success.

You are not my favorite read on the net. I'm more into politics/current events or humor. I check in maybe a couple times a year to see how you are doing. I don't always agree with the way you see things, but I appreciate that you are so honest in your views.

I think you are cute!The bum project was cool, but I knew most of what you discovered just by living in the city (Baltimore, MD)The backflip thing, I can't see video because I'm at work, but I really want to learn how to do one too!! I was thinking of just paying a training at a gymnastics camp.

I consider you pretty fearless (your e-businesses, homeless experiment). You seem very perseverant as well – you give things a very fair try and don't give up on them too quickly.

You also seem like you have the mind of a child – in a good way – like a zen way! You're open minded and not cranky, whiny, or anything else like that.

I run e-businesses, but i am much more emotional, worrisome, up and down etc. so I always find your posts refreshing and inspiring when i'm having a down or over-analytical type of day :P

You seem like a fun guy i'd want to be friends with, but you also seem like you might not have much energy for connecting emotionally with friends because you're very tied up in your own endeavors & world (not sure if it's true, but my random "impression" from reading!)

Nev, I have been reading your blog since 2006. You act and look a lot like one of my friends from Iran. He does all sorts of business things like you do. I wish I could post a pic here… he could almost pass for a twin.

-Do I remind you of anyone?
I think you are truly your own person, which makes you so unique and admirable; however, if I had to pin-point two people you remind me of… I would have to say my dad (who is the smartest guy I know) and Abe Lincoln (a progressive but innovative thinker and leader, who was always honest and fair).

-Would I be someone you’d want to hang out with?
Most certainly!

-Do you think I’ll be a success or a bust?
You are already very successful, in my opinion! In the future, I can’t imagine all the great things you will do. With all variables put aside, I think what contributes the most to your wealth of knowledge and entrepreneurial goals is your zest to make every day count by doing what you love most.

-Am I your favorite read on the net?
Nevblog.com is certainly one of my favorite reads on the web.